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AZA Wins Free Speech Ruling for Doctor

September 5, 2010

HOUSTON – AZA attorneys helped a Houston doctor win an important ruling that affirmed his rights to commercial free speech.

AZA’s client Dr. Louis Berman was sued by Quality Infusion Care Inc., which handled medicine infusions in the doctor’s office. Dr. Berman gave Quality Infusion nearly $1 million in upfront payments for medications that were to be used on patients in his office. The doctor wanted to contact his patients’ insurance companies to make sure those insurers knew that he was the person who was owed for the drugs that were being supplied by Quality Infusion.

When that happened, the infusion company asked a Harris County district court judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Dr. Berman from contacting the insurance companies, and would have allowed Quality Infusion to collect the money that the doctor was owed for the previously purchased drugs. AZA’s John Zavitsanos represented Dr. Berman in his arguments against the company’s restrictive request.

Although judges regularly grant requests for temporary restraining orders, Mr. Zavitsanos was able to convince the court that Quality Infusion’s request should be denied. The court’s decision was soon followed by Quality Infusion cancelling its request for a full injunction against the doctor.

“This lawsuit sought to stop our client from being able to contact insurance carriers for his own patients. It sought to gag his speech,” says Mr. Zavitsanos. “We’re proud of the work we did in this case by making sure that our client’s interests were protected every step of the way.”